I was going to say "Wow ! I don't remember that".......but, I guess I wouldn't, would I? Thanks Polly ----- Original Message ----- From: "Susan W Pieroth" <pieroth@ix.netcom.com> To: <RINEWPOR-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, August 26, 2002 2:06 PM Subject: [RINEWPOR] Newport, RI - Not the 1938 Hurricane > AWFUL AND DESTRUCTIVE STORM. > > On Saturday last, 23d inst., this town was visited by one of the most > awful and destructive storms ever experienced here, sweeping away and > laying prostrate almost everything in its course. The gale commenced > early in the morning at north east and continued increasing in violence > (the wind varying from N. E. to S. E. and S. W.) until 11 A. M., when it > began to abate, and about one o'clock all danger from the wind and tide > was over and the afternoon was fair and mild, forming a striking > contrast with the war of the elements which had existed but a few > minutes before. The tide rose three and a half feet higher than it had > ever been known before. At Providence it rose seven feet higher than > ever before. > > To attempt to particularize the suffering, to estimate the losses, is > impossible. Two dwelling houses and nine stores and workshops on the > Long Wharf were carried away by the violence of the wind and tide, and > those that withstood the gale are rendered almost untenable by the > vessels, lumber, &c. being driven against them. Several of the stores > carried away contained a considerable amount of property in West India > and other goods, which as nearly all lost. One of the houses swept from > the Long Wharf was occupied by Mr. Andrew V. Allan, and such was the > rapidity and violence of the storm that every attempt to save his family > was in vain; they all perished, his wife, three children and a girl that > lived with them. > > The wharves on the Point, with most of the stores, stables, &c., on them > were carried away. The wharves in other parts of the town, with the > stores on them, also sustained very considerable injury, and everything > movable on the wharves was swept away. In some of the stores the water > was four feet deep. The Long Wharf has sustained great damage and the > stores on the head of the wharf are much shattered, and their contents > (four, sugar, corn, tobacco, &c.) damaged by the tide. The large > three-story store of Gov. Martin was removed nearly six feet from its > foundation. A large three-story store on Rhodes & Cahoone's Wharf, > containing hemp and flour, was taken from its foundation and floated > into the harbor. > > The town, after the gale, was a scene which defies description. Many of > our streets were rendered impassable by the quantity of goods, lumber, > wood, spars, wrecks of houses, vessels, trees, &c., lying in every > direction. The steeples of the first and second Congregational Churches > were partly blown down, the roofs of the Episcopal Church and First > Congregational were partly carried away, and other public edifices have > sustained considerable injury. We dare not venture to risk a calculation > as to the amount of damage sustained, but it is very great. Many poor > families have lost their all and were happy to escape with their lives. > The scene was such as was never before witnessed by our oldest > inhabitants. The uprooting of huge trees, some of which have braved the > fury of the elements for nearly a century, part of the town inundated, > the wind blowing a hurricane, a prodigious swell running, some buildings > falling to pieces, the sea beating against others with a fury surpassed > only by the breakers of our sea shore; and amidst all these horrors were > seen families struggling to escape their houses, and persons striving to > save their property. After the storm the outside of the windows in the > town was found coated with a fine salt which, it seems was conveyed from > the ocean through the air, and the leaves of the trees, from this cause, > as is supposed, are curled and crisped as with a general blast. > > Two brigs were driven on the tops of the wharves; four sloops were > driven on the top of the Long Wharf; a sloop with wood was carried over > the Long Wharf on to the Point; another was driven into the cove, and > two sloops were sunk at Long Wharf. Much damage was done to the towns > situated on the Narragansett Bay and along the shores and a number of > lives lost in this disastrous gale. > __________________ > > Date of the storm: September 23, 1815 > > "Services at the Dedication of the School House Erected by the Trustees > of the Long wharf, at Newport Rhode Island, May 20th, 1863 with an > Appendix." Page 69-70, Appendix C: Abstract from the Record of the Long > Wharf. > > -- > Susan W. Pieroth > > > > ==== RINEWPOR Mailing List ==== > Newport County, RI, USGenWeb Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~rinewpor/ > To unsubscribe: write unsubscribe and mailto:RINEWPOR-L-request@rootsweb.com > Advertisements are added below against the wishes of this list manager > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >